Musical instrument



Jan. 15, 1935.

c. c. SIEGRIST 1,988,220

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT Filed Aug. 10, 1953 a ZCSie riS? a WW A Patented Jan. 15, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MUSICAL 'INSTRUNIENT Application August 10,

Claims.

This invention relates to musical instruments and particularly musical instruments on the order of dulcimers.

The general object of this invention is to 5 provide means whereby an instrument of this character may have certain of its strings fretted or stopped by a finger operated by the foot of the player to thus provide for the sounding of a chord and in this connection to provide a plurality of these fingers each operated by a separate foot pedal and each associated with a certain fret on the instrument so as to cause different chords to be sounded when the different fingers are depressed and the strings struck.

A further object is to provide an instrument of this kind with means whereby the melody may be played by the performer on one string and the chords played by the performer on the remaining strings under the control of the fingers.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a plan view of the musical instrument constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the device partially broken away;

Figure 3 is a detailed view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on the line 44 of Figure 2.

Referring to this drawing, 10 designates a table upon which the instrument designated generally 11 is disposed. This table is provided with the four downwardly extending legs 12, these legs being connected by braces 13. Preferably, an upwardly extending resilient wooden slat 14 may be sprung into place to hold the pairs of legs in a vertical position, the legs being hinged to the table so that they may be turned up against the table. The rear legs are connected by means of a transverse brace 15 detachably connected to the lower ends of the rear legs. The table and its legs, however, may be constructed in any suitable manner.

Mounted upon the edge of the table in any suitable manner and extending upward therefrom adjacent one end thereof are the vertical brackets 16. Preferably there are two of these brackets, that bracket which is nearest to the adjacent end of the table having pivoted to its upper end the arm or hammer or finger 17 1933, Serial No. 684,577 (o1. 84173) and that bracket which carries two arms 18 and 19 which are pivoted to the upper ends of the bracket. These arms or fingers l7, l8 and 19 are adapted to be brought down against the strings of the instrument 11 by means of pedals t and these fingers are urged upward out of contact with the strings of the instrument by means of springs 20. For the purpose of operating the several fingers which constitute hammers adapted to strike the strings, I provide the several 1 pedals 21, 22 and 23. These pedals are each pivoted or hinged to the rail 15 and detachably connected to these pedals are rods 24 which extend upward through apertures in the table and are detachably engaged with the faces of 1 the fingers 1'7, 18 and 19.

It will thus be obvious that when one of the pedals is depressed by the foot, the corresponding arm will be brought downward and strike the strings. The instrument 11 has a hollow body such as that of a dulcimer or instrument of like general character and this body is provided with the usual head 25 having pegs to which the strings are attached. The strings are designated generally 28 and at their rear ends are connected to keys 2'? whereby the strings may be tightened. At the end of the body 11 opposite the head 25, there is provided a hand rest 28 beneath which the strings pass. The body 11 is provided with the openings 29 and with frets 30, 31 and 32 and with the usual bridges 33 at the forward. and rear ends of the instrument over which the strings pass. Extending beneath the first string are a series of frets designated generally 34.

In playing this instrument, the player sits with his feet under the table at the left hand side of the instrument and with his feet resting upon the pedals 21 to 23. The melody is played on the first string of the series while 40 the remainder of the strings are stopped or fretted to secure the several chords desired by depressing one or another of the fingers 17 and 19. When all of the pedals are up and the strings are struck, plucked or picked, the tonic 45 chord will be produced. If the finger 17 is depressed, striking the strings between fret 32 and the adjacent bridge, the sub-dominant chord may be sounded. If the arm 18 is depressed, 50

the dominant 7th may be sounded and if the finger 19 be depressed, the dominant may be sounded. There are two ways of tuning the instrument. With one Way, the first and second trings of the series will be tuned to D, the 55 third string to G, the 4th string to D, the 5th string to G, the 6th to B and the 7th to D.

Another way to tune the instrument is to tune the first string to A, the second string to A, the third string to F, the fourth string to D, the fifth string to F, the sixth string to A and the seventh to D. It will be seen that this instrument has seven strings and seventeen notes. For convenience, the instrument lifts 01f the table, the rods 24 unhook from the arms 17, 18 and 19 and from the pedals, the rail 15 may be removed by unscrewing the thumb screws 35 and the legs may be folded up. The instrument is generally speaking held in position on the table by means of an upwardly extending pin 36.

While I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited thereto, as it is obvious that many changes and variations might be made in the instrument Without departing from the spirit thereof as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A musical instrument of the character described having a hollow body and a plurality of strings extending along the body, frets disposed beneath the strings and over which the strings pass, and a plurality of fingers pivotally supported above the body and normally held in position above the strings, the fingers being disposed between the difierent frets, and being depressible down against the strings, independently of any other finger.

2. A musical instrument comprising a hollow body having stretched strings and frets disposed beneath the strings and adjacent one end of the instrument, a plurality of fingers, one between each pair of frets pivotally supported at their outer ends and at their inner ends extending over the strings, and means, one for each finger operatively connected to the fingers to cause a depression of the finger independently of any other finger.

3. An instrument of the character described, comprising a hollow body, stretched strings carried over the top of the body, a hand rest extending over said strings at one end of the body, a plurality of frets extending beneath the strings, a plurality of fingers pivotally mounted above the body and extending over the strings and adjacent the frets, springs urging'the fingers upward and manually controlled means for depressing any one of the fingers against the strings independently of any other finger.

4. An instrument of the character described, having a hollow body and longitudinally extending strings mounted upon the upper face of the body, the body at one end having a hand rest extending over the strings and at the other end having frets extending beneath the strings, fingers pivotally mounted above the body and having their extremities disposed over said strings, each finger being disposed adjacent a fret, springs urging said fingers upward away from the strings and manually controlled means for depressing any one of said fingers independently of any other finger.

5. A musical instrument of the character described comprising a hollow body, a series of strings extending over the upper face of the hollow body, bridges holding said strings in spaced relation to the upper face of the hollow body, a plurality of frets extending beneath all the strings of the series, a plurality of frets extending beneath the first string of the series only, a plurality of fingers, one for each of the first named frets and pivotally supported above the body and strings and urged upward away from the strings, and manually controllable means for depressing any one of said fingers against the strings independently of any other finger.

CHARLES CLYDE SIEGRIST. 

